Studies of Hong Kong gangster flicks and cop films have in the past often focused on these films’ exciting action scenes and representations of masculinity. This talk will revisit some 1980s classics of Hong Kong cinema using the category of the “crime film” to reveal previously neglected aspects of these works. Generally operating within the so-called “melodramatic mode”, Hong Kong directors of the 1980s had access to a wide range of stylistic options and registers, with their films offering insight into issues of (colonial) justice, police power, gang culture and the rule of law. Though made more than 30 years ago, these films therefore are of surprising relevance to Hong Kong society today.